![]() ![]() ![]() The original letters close after the notification of Frank Doel’s death, but my copy had another book in it: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, which is Helene Hanff’s journal of her time in London just after the release of the first book. ![]() When she did go to London, the bookshop itself had gone. Frank Doel, the man whom she corresponded with, died suddenly of appendicitis before she ever went to London. But it did happen - and typically of reality, Helene didn’t get quite the happy ending one would want. It’s hard to believe that these letters were real, sometimes - it’s just so sweet, and so much like something you’d see in a movie. Starting in 1949, she wrote regularly to the shop asking them for books she wanted, and they wrote back… and slowly a correspondence developed, as they found her beautiful copies of the books she wanted and she ordered them boxes of food and sent friends round to do them favours. It’s actually a collection of real letters between Helene Hanff, a writer in the US, and a London bookseller. It took me a while to pick up my own copy, but now I have… and it’s really, really sweet, and funny as well. ![]() I actually stumbled across this book on someone’s wishlist for a book swap, and then immediately got sucked into reading the opening pages. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |